{"id":327760,"date":"2025-03-16T09:23:10","date_gmt":"2025-03-16T14:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=327760"},"modified":"2025-03-15T10:34:33","modified_gmt":"2025-03-15T15:34:33","slug":"guest-opinion-children-conceived-ivf-precious-unethical","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/guest-opinion-children-conceived-ivf-precious-unethical\/","title":{"rendered":"GUEST OPINION: Children conceived by IVF are precious. But IVF is still unethical."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this guest post are solely those of the guest author. Edits have been made for clarity.<\/i>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

I recently had a conversation with a fellow Christian about Trump\u2019s <\/span>Executive Order<\/span><\/a> to reduce barriers to accessing in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedures. This discussion revealed to me that many people, even in Christian churches, seem confused about the ethical dilemmas surrounding IVF. This is unsurprising, as some politicians who oppose abortion have also championed IVF, blurring the line between ethical and unethical reproductive procedures.<\/span><\/p>\n

Should “safeguarding” IVF really be the goal?<\/h3>\n

The White House recently<\/b> <\/b>tweeted<\/b><\/a> that Trump\u2019s EO will \u201csafeguard” IVF and “lower costs… for American families.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

The U.S. government has an obligation to <\/span>uphold the common good<\/span><\/a>, but officeholders striving to make it more affordable to access a procedure that experiments with and treats as disposable the lives of <\/span>millions<\/span><\/a> of human beings annually \u2014 IVF \u2014 means that they are failing to uphold the welfare of our most vulnerable fellow citizens. <\/span><\/p>\n

One question that must be asked is whether IVF can actually be considered \u201cfertility care\u201d at all since the procedure only masks the underlying issues of infertility instead of healing them. <\/span><\/p>\n

As stated by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.\u2019s presidential running mate, <\/span>Nicole Shanahan<\/span><\/a>, IVF is \u201cone of the biggest lies that\u2019s being told about women\u2019s health today.\u201d While RFK Jr. has tweeted that neither he nor Trump is against IVF and that they <\/span>\u201c<\/span>want couples<\/span><\/a> to get the help they need to have a baby,\u201d he has also prioritized finding the root causes of the country\u2019s increase in infertility.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Those who seek fertility treatments via IVF are often diagnosed with \u201cunexplained infertility.\u201d <\/span>Endocrinologist Dr. Lauren Rubal<\/span><\/a> stated that after learning more about<\/span> fertility awareness-based methods<\/span><\/a>, she learned a lot about treating reproductive issues \u2014 information that was previously unknown to her despite her many years of practice. She explained that the literature revealed that only about 6% of OB-GYNs and family medicine physicians were able to correctly answer questions about the efficacy of fertility awareness-based methods in achieving and avoiding pregnancy. Their lack of knowledge and understanding of such methods is a disservice to their patients.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNon-abandonment is one of a physician’s central ethical obligations\u2026” wrote physicians Timothy E. Quill and Christine K. Cassel<\/a>, “There is a world of difference between facing an uncertain future alone and facing it with a committed, caring, knowledgeable partner who will not shy away from difficult decisions when the path is unclear.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

It is, therefore, the duty of every physician not to abandon<\/em> their patients to the <\/span>multi-million dollar<\/span><\/a> IVF industry but instead to help them in seeking alternative, restorative reproductive medicine treatments that <\/span>balance hormones, help make lifestyle changes<\/span><\/a>, detox <\/span>heavy metals<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>provide surgeries<\/span><\/a> that <\/span>restore overall health<\/span><\/a>, and show strong success rates<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, we want more babies… ethically.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

President Trump stated that one of his main reasons for expanding access to IVF is the fact that \u201c<\/b>We need more children in our country<\/b><\/a>\u201d and \u201c<\/b>We want more babies<\/b><\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Of course, we want more babies! The issue hasn\u2019t to do with the beautiful children created through IVF, but with an industry that takes advantage of the vulnerability of those struggling with infertility and treats human life as expendable. <\/span><\/p>\n

Children are precious and worthy of life and love no matter how they\u2019re conceived, whether it be out of wedlock, through rape, IVF, etc., and no parents should regret the existence of their children. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, this doesn\u2019t mean that every practice that brought them into existence is, therefore, automatically ethical.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kansas Senator Roger Marshall<\/a> stated, “There’s nothing more pro-family than supporting the birth of babies.” Yes, being pro-family is important, but IVF treats children \u2014 part of our families \u2014\u00a0as if they are products, selecting which children to transfer or freeze \u2014 and then making the painful decision of <\/span>what to do with those who are \u201cleft over<\/span><\/a>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Further, considering that the process of IVF ends preborn lives at a higher rate than abortion, IVF is not \u201cpro-life.\u201d As Live Action News reported in 2022<\/a>:<\/span><\/p>\n

In-vitro fertilization (IVF) is carried out 2.5 million times annually around the world \u2014 but each year only 500,000 babies are actually born from the IVF procedure, according to research published in\u00a0Reproductive Biomedicine Online<\/a>. That means that each year, if just one embryo is created during each IVF cycle (the average is seven), at least 80% \u2014 at least two million \u2014 of the human beings created through IVF either die during the process, are frozen indefinitely, or are destroyed.<\/em><\/p>\n

According to the World Health Organization<\/a>, there are 73 million induced abortions each year around the world and 29% of all pregnancies end in induced abortion. This means that when comparing rates \u2014 human beings are being destroyed by IVF at a higher rate than they are by abortion.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology <\/span>reported<\/span><\/a> 389,993 IVF cycles in the U.S. in 2022, compared to the <\/span>CDC\u2019s report<\/span><\/a> of 609,360 abortions. If every cycle produced eight children, then there were 3,119,944 embryonic human persons created.<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a huge game of trial and error that takes place with<\/span> millions of embryonic human beings<\/span><\/a>. Even the \u201cbest prognosis\u201d patients \u2014 those under 35 years of age \u2014 have an average of two egg retrieval cycles, and those over age 40 can undergo up to nine. <\/span>If 10 eggs are retrieved<\/span><\/a>, then about eight of them will become embryos upon fertilization. Just two retrieval cycles create 16 persons who won\u2019t all survive.<\/span><\/p>\n